Starry Eyed
by CrumbledCandyWrapper
Summary: Danny and Ethan are both heartbroken. While Danny's heart is left almost irreparable from a record of failed relationships, Ethan's is now in a bleeding mess of itself from having to relive the pains of heartache again. It's all a big misunderstanding, and Allison's guilt is unbearable. She can only hope she'll be able to fix what she potentially broke before it's too late...
1. Half Naked Smileys

_**Part One - Getting Out**_

_**Chapter One:**_

_**Half Naked Smileys**_

* * *

Steam accumulates and lingers casually along the ceiling of a fairly nice Romanesque bathroom. It slowly begins to fill the room, creating a misty terrain wherever you step. Amongst the thickening plumes of vapor, the white noise of water splashing against marble flooring fills the area. The shower is running, and our beloved Danny Māhealani is just about finished with his routine nightly shower. Well, actually, this one was a little bit earlier; give or take an hour or two.

He had no idea why, but something was just telling him in the back of his mind that taking a shower earlier tonight would be just as good an idea as any. Maybe it was the fact that he had a paper due in a few days that he'd been procrastinating to finish. Sure, he'd get it done, but he couldn't even remember the last time he was so close to a deadline and still hadn't completed the assignment. Maybe it was just his subconscious making him do it, though. Danny was a lot of things, and- regrettably -being OCD about his cleanliness was one of them. Or, come to think of it, maybe it was just the fact that he hadn't gotten much of any of his routines back on track in quite some time. In all seriousness, he was pretty much swamped with his social life, and the past few weeks did start to take their toll. On what exactly was anyone's guess. He was Danny; just about everyone loved the guy. Even the jerks who didn't had to swallow their pride and join the club with all the people who just simply liked being around him. Hey, sometimes peer pressure's a good thing!

But, being the lovable guy that he is, Danny never let any of that stuff get to his head. He still remained humble, as anybody would expect. Although he wasn't as '_at peace'_ in his mind as you'd think. He seemed so out of sorts when he broke up with his last asshole boyfriend. What was their name, again? _Oh, who cares? _He was free of that headache now, and what was even better was that he had some new eye candy worth swooning over. It was an unexpected match-up- to Danny, at least. He'd probably tell you he expected to be with Stiles right now if he wasn't..._somewhat_ sure Stilinski was straight... Well, that's a thought for another time, no?

There were other things to concern himself with right now. That paper definitely wasn't going to write itself, no matter how amazingly convenient that would be for him. So, Danny soaks the last bit of conditioner from his barbered Hawaiian locks and lets the suds drain into nothing before turning off the heated water of the shower. He lets out a relieved sigh as his body is left steaming, matching the misty plumes that waft about his bathroom. His naked form chills as he pulls back the shower door and steps outside. It's his house, so he doesn't bother with finding a towel right away until he's walked the length of the bathroom towards the horizontal mirror across the room.

As he steps up to the sink, he takes a moment to observe himself. Boy, does lacrosse do a body good. Not even that, but the formation that his calves were starting to get from cross-country practice almost conceitedly made him check himself out for a while. Danny quickly shook the thought aside as he turned his torso so he could observe the lining of his back and posterior. He had earned this kind of admiration. All those countless hours of after school practices and uphill runs with the team had to amount to something, right? If he didn't take the time to admire himself, then who else would? Yes, he _definitely_ owed it to himself, and he was going to milk every second of it.

Or at least he _would have_ had his phone not started to go off on the counter next to him. His screen lit up as he held it in his hand, observing who the sender of his new text may be. Of course, speak of the devil, he knew exactly who it was. He would always get a text from them around this time of night. Usually it was the normal _what are you doing? _or a casual _what's up?,_ but either way Danny was sure of who it could be.

There, surrounded by so many cute emoticons that his screen had to use ellipses to gauge them all, was a guy he couldn't quite figure out yet, but had all the time he needed to try...

_**New Text Message From**_

_**...Ethan...**_

The name gave him butterflies. He still couldn't believe that he had someone like him all to himself. Someone like _Ethan_. The guy who he fell for during that trip with the cross country team, and took to the hospital when he had shortness of breath...or whatever that was. And, just the other day, the same Ethan that picked him up with such ferocity when he was supposed to be practicing...all because he "missed him". It sent Danny's heart aflutter for all the right reasons as he grabbed a fresh towel off of a folded stack and wrapped it around himself. He laughed at his current position as he looped it in place, wondering what Ethan might say if Danny were to tell him what he just got through doing.

Excited to see exactly what was said, Danny opens up the message with an electronic click.

_**"Hey babe. **_

_**I miss you, wanna get out tonight?"**_

_'Get out'?_ Danny thought with a raised brow. The last time he'd heard that, his ex decided to take him on a date to McDonald's.

_Geez, boys can be such asses..._ he thought. _The jerk didn't even let me order anything that wasn't on that cheap Dollar Menu._

With a sorrowful roll of his eyes, Danny gave himself a look in the mirror. His phone had already told Ethan that he'd opened _and _read the message, but he was so psyched out now that he wasn't really too much into replying...let alone _getting out_. If anything, he was just going to lie with something vague like he was retiring earlier tonight, so he took his shower earlier to match. It took all he could muster for Danny not to make up some BS excuse about where he had to go in the morning or how he had so much work that needed to be done. Sure, there was the paper, but sleep or none that stupid thing was getting turned in so he really had no scapegoat. An exasperated sigh escaped him as he battled with his subconscious mind.

_Come on, Danny. _He said to himself. _Maybe he's not like the other guys...? Not everyone eats McDonald's at ten o'clock at night, right?_

With that in mind, Danny had his response:

_**"I miss you too :)  
**_

He stopped there, not yet pressing "Send". At least that wasn't a lie. In truth, yes, he did miss him. How could you not miss your significant other when you've already been through so much together in such a short time? He looked back down to his phone as he thought this, reading over the text once more.

..._Hmm..._ Danny thought. _'I miss you' _**and** _a smiley face... _He watched his expression change to worry in the mirror in front of him._ Is that too much? _It was technically still early in the relationship. Were they at hearts and smileys yet? Ethan's text didn't even have a wink after the _"I miss you"_, so should he take that as a sign? He quickly shook his head back into focus before he drifted off any further. _Whatever... _He thought, leaving the first part of the message as is. With an ever savvy swiftness on his keypad, he completed the text.

_**Sure, I can meet you. Where at?"**_

Another sigh left him as he put his cellphone back on the counter. He let his arms rest on it as he met his gaze in the mirror with a nervous anguish. Danny's mind started to swamp over with all these thoughts at once. Just what in the world was he so upset for? Even if a heart or smiley was in the text, Ethan would think it was cute, right? It wouldn't make or break the _entire _conversation... _right?_ In the amount of time it took for Ethan to reply, Danny had already dried and started blow-drying his curling hair. It wasn't a long wait though, since drying off doesn't take that long for anyone... or at least it _shouldn't._..

_**"Can you come to my place?**_

_**I rented a movie and I just ordered pizza, lol."**_

Danny was apprehensive to reply...

_Well at least it's not McDonald's... _He thought. He doubted he could stomach any more of that stuff anyways. Danny wanted to say yes, but a somewhat bigger part of him also wanted to say no. Sure, there was pizza, but there was also the fact that that paper was due on Monday, and what excuse would he really have if he told his teacher he spent the night at his boyfriends' and never got around to it? Would that even constitute as a reason for an extended deadline? He held his phone tight in his hands, thinking about what he originally wanted to say, but not letting it physically form in front of him.

_He rented a movie, Danny! _He could've slapped himself if it weren't for his subconscious making it so impossible for him. _We have to at least give him a chance here... And plus there's pizza!_

Sometimes he wishes his subconscious would shut the hell up. He read Ethan's text again... just what was it about Ethan's name that did that to his stomach. He liked the feeling, a _lot_. That alone was reason enough to indulge him. There still was the one thing about Ethan's request that still left Danny a little uncertain though.

_**"Your place? :S**_

_**What about your brother?"**_

He held his phone in his hand as he waited for the reply. Ethan was obviously near his phone, so the replies would come in fairly quickly-

_**"Don't worry, Danny.**_

_**I gave him 20 bucks to make him split.**_

_**It's just us, I promise ;)"**_

_**"You really got him out of the house **_

_**for 20 dollars? :/"**_

_**"Okay, you got me... :P**_

_**I gave him 50..."**_

_**"Set you back much? lol"**_

_**"Only if you count the 20 extra I gave him for his friend... _,,"**_

_**"Aww, Ethan...**_

This made Danny feel guilty. Forget the paper- it was a grade he could make up -a worse feeling would be standing Ethan up after he went to all this trouble for him. But, still...

_**"You really didn't have **_

_**to go to all that trouble just to see me..."**_

_**"Yea, I know...**_

_**But you're worth it :)"**_

"I'm '_worth it_'?" Danny said, aloud this time. The butterflies felt like they were having a field day in his stomach now, and he couldn't help but crack a goofy smile as he read over the text again. He must've been doing this for a good minute though, seeing as another text flew in from Ethan not too long after.

_**"So can you pleeease come over, babe? **_

_**PLZ!? D:"**_

_Oh my god, Danny. He's so damn cute... _He laughed to himself. _He did go to all this trouble... We'll breaking his heart if we don't show up. That is what that emoji means, right? _

Danny had his mind made up. As he stared at his half-naked body once more, he saw the only true thing holding him back and promptly gave his confirmation. The conversation went pretty smoothly after that.

_**"Well I still need to get dressed first, Ethan. **_

_**Do I get time to do that lol"**_

_**"Nope. Just come naked ;)**_

_**JKJK, but don't make me wait too long, okay?**_

_**:("**_

_**"Wouldn't dream of it :)**_

_**I'll be over soon 3"**_

_**"Perfect.  
**_

_**See you soon :)"**_

Danny held his cellphone close in his hand with a grip tightened from excitement. Or was this fear? With everything going on in his mind- scenarios, what-if's and the like -he couldn't very well place the emotion he was feeling. In actuality, he was feeling a mix of a lot of things. Technically it was going to be their first uninterrupted date since they started seeing each other, and the thought flew Danny into a panic.

What does he wear? How should he smell? Should he head back in the shower and make sure his body is truly ready for whatever might go down? What kind of movie were they watching? Is there really a movie? What if it's a horror? Was he up for a horror movie tonight?

As he headed into his room and haphazardly swung his closet doors open, he couldn't help but let his mind race. It was a sadistic way of keeping his sanity as he mentally prepared himself for whatever the night might throw at him. Even if the _worse case scenario_ was to occur, Danny would be ready..._more or less._

Now if only he could actually decide on what to wear_..._


	2. Cold Pizza

**_Chapter Two:_**

**_Cold Pizza  
_**

* * *

It took some doing, but Danny finally decided on the perfect outfit to see Ethan in. He found himself admiring the choice in the full-body mirror of his closet as he fixed it to his frame. He didn't even know why he spent so much time over-thinking the situation; all in all, casual was the way to go. He went over the outfit of choice as he locked up the house for the night, retrieving his set of keys from the kitchen counter as he did so.

A burgundy red sweater underneath a nice fitting black leather jacket was the appropriate styling at the top. Accompanying this was a pair of dark blue jeans and black boots that he never really found any other use for besides that one other occasion he never got to wear them for. He looked at his outfit and he felt great. No, he _looked _great. If anyone told him different, they were lying.

As he walked down the stone pathway of his house towards his car, parked carefully along the curb of the street, Danny punched in Ethan's number on his cell. He quickly pondered why he didn't just go to the contacts and press call- or even go to his previous messages and start the call from there -but as the ringer buzzed in his right ear, he let the thought pass.

The phone only rang two times on Ethan's end before he had it pressed up to his ear, a wide grin perched on his face.

"...Y'Ello?" Ethan answered.

Danny laughed before responding. "Is _that_ how you're answering your phone calls now?"

He could tell Ethan had that goofy grin on his face now.

"Trying out new things." he said. "Seeing what works, y'know?"

"That doing anything for you?"

"I should be asking you." Danny could hear Ethan laugh on the other end as he said this.

"We'll call that one a hit-and-miss." he replied as he pressed the car alarm on his key chain to unlock the doors.

"You haven't left the house yet?" Ethan asked hearing the noise from his phone.

Danny adjusted himself into the driver's seat of his car before answering. "Yeah, sorry. It took longer than it should've for me to get dressed..."

Ethan let out another laugh as the sounds of explosions filled the background noise of his home.

"Jesus." he said. "I'd hate to see you getting ready for school, babe."

Danny couldn't help but chuckle in response. "Shut up, I didn't want it to look like I'd just throw on anything to come and see you."

"Hey, you're coming, so that's enough for me." He laughed again. "Like I said; come naked, it's perfectly fine!"

Danny rolled his eyes as his own goofy grin started to matched Ethan's. "You're such an ass, you know that?"

"_Your _ass... Get it right, babe."

The comment made his heart jump a little. All this harmless flirting and here Danny is almost in puddles. He liked this feeling, though. Damn near _loved it._ He hadn't had a genuine laugh or some quality conversation with a significant other since the beginning of his last relationship. The familiarity of it made him blush as he brought himself back to life enough to actually start his car.

"Fine." Danny said after a cute pause between them. "_'My' _ass..."

"Gross, haha." Ethan replied. "You make it sound so awkward."

To this Danny rolled his eyes as he pulled on his seatbelt and switched on the car headlights, getting a better look at the once darkened nighttime scene around him.

"Jerk." Danny quickly retorted. "I'll be there in a few, so I'll see you then."

"Text me when you get here, okay? I'll unlock the door for you."

"Maybe. See you soon."

"Now who's the 'jerk'? Haha."

"Still you, of course."

"Yea yea." Ethan laughed. "Just don't go texting anybody while you're out on the road, alright?"

"Promise. Bye, babe."

"Bye, _'Ass'_."

Danny pressed "End" on his cell after hearing the same click on Ethan's. Had Ethan stayed on the line a little longer, Danny surely wouldn't have let him get away with that slip. He took a moment to let whatever he was feeling sink in. He still liked the feeling, and knew it was definitely a good one. What was at first apprehension quickly turned into a strong sense of enthusiasm. Ethan suddenly shot higher up on his list of important things than even that paper he hadn't finished yet.

He checked the time- **_8:37_** -if he was in a hurry he could make it to Ethan's side of town in about fifteen minutes. Of course, that was out of the question. He'd have to take a leisurely route tonight seeing as police are running rampant around the local neighborhoods of the high school. Can't go getting a ticket and he'd just finally gotten the hang of the turnpikes on the highway. So much has been going on in so little time you'd have to buy the DVD box set just to keep up with everything.

_What am I even talking about? _Danny thought as he changed gears and carefully etched onto the road.

Paying it little mind, he started up the road, taking the first left out of his neighborhood and onto the quiet side streets that would later lead him to Ethan's adobe.

_**28 minutes later...**_

Danny slowed to a halt as he approached Ethan's home. The neighborhood was quiet, which Danny expected more or less, and the only other light besides his headlights came from the faded orange glows of the streetlamps. He turned back to the impressive looking house Ethan invited him to. It almost made him wonder if he was at the right place, and he peered further ahead up the street to see if anyone else had more houselights on in wait of his presence. Pulling out his phone, he remembered a previous message that had Ethan's address attached to it. He had invited Danny over before on one random occasion, but something bigger than himself came up and the visit was cut short before it even really happened.

_509 Lysander Street... _Danny read. He looked back up to the place to find the house number. Once he spotted it, he was sure. _Yep...this is the spot..._

The lights were off on the second floor and the pale florescence of television light flashed along the white silk curtains on the bottom. If he listened closely enough, he could make out the same sounds of explosions, and now gunfire, that he heard in the background of their phone call.

"Definitely the place..." Danny said as he propped his car door open.

Stepping one leg out, he switched off his headlights and in turn silenced the car with a flick to retrieve the keys. He made a slight twirl as he pulled himself out and admired the scene from the far end of the street. He was so nervous now, and he really had no idea why. Surely it wasn't because this was a date or anything; that would just be ridiculous.

Whatever the excuse was, he was here. _No turning back now, Mr. Mahealani. _With that in mind, he subconsciously closed his car door and stepped around to make his way onto the stone pathway off the curb. There weren't any cars in the driveway, which struck Danny as odd. _Did Ethan even drive? _He didn't recall ever seeing his license, really. Maybe Aiden took it out for the night after Ethan payed him to go out.

Before he knew it, Danny was at the front door to the house, hand propped up in midair to knock on the door. But then, just as suddenly as his hand went up, it froze. This time it wasn't out of fright or nervousness, but simply because Danny remembered something he'd heard recently.

**_"Just don't go texting anybody while you're out on the road, alright?"_**

_Was that it...?_ Danny thought. _No, no. It was something else. Think, Danny...THINK..._

After straining for a second or two, it finally came back to him.

**_"Text me when you get here, okay? I'll unlock the door for you."_**

_Oh, yeah... That was it..._ Danny whispered to himself as he pulled out his phone.

He felt it was a little redundant at this point to text Ethan that he was here when he was already two feet from the door, but he didn't see too much reason why he shouldn't so he started to do so anyways.

After opening up their previous chat, he started quickly typing the message. Just as soon as he sent the text though, did he look back up and find himself scared out of his wits.

Standing there, underneath the veil of the porch-light that cloaked his face in an unsettling shade of darkness, was Ethan. He stood there in a light gray sweater that surprisingly matched Danny's in style. His jeans were a stonewashed light blue and he had on a casual pair of black converse. He gave Danny that same goofy grin he always does, partially smirking to the side as he addressed him and slouched comfortably on the rim of the door.

"Hey there, good lookin'." He said as he looked Danny up and down in a playful seduction. His phone vibrated in his left pants pocket soon after he finished speaking, more than likely Danny's text coming in. Ethan didn't bother to read it.

Danny stood there with his mouth open and his heart tried to stop itself from collapsing. Ethan laughed as he watched Danny's chest go in and out in fright, trying to calm himself down.

"You must be lost, handsome..." Ethan continued jokingly as he pointed further up the street. "Strip club's that'a'way..."

The comment threw Danny for a loop. Before he knew it, he was back, and giving Ethan quite a disturbed look.

"Are you saying I look like a stripper?" he said with a less than flattered tone.

To this, Ethan playfully rolled his eyes and pulled Danny past the threshold into his house- and into his arms. He held him there in one arm as close and passionately as he could.

"I was kiddin', you idiot." Ethan said as he breathed in Danny's scent. Danny didn't move at first, he simply let Ethan hold onto him.

"I just missed you, okay? Like, a lot..."

Danny stood there in the warmth of Ethan's body for what felt like hours. Ethan had his arm wrapped around his neck in such a protective fashion that Danny couldn't help but blush. Danny's arms made their way around Ethan's chest and circled into his back. They held each other there, neither wanting to let go- why spoil the moment? Joining in, Ethan's left arm wrapped around Danny's at the waist as well, squeezing tightly and letting Danny catch the full scent of his cologne.

He pushed himself up to stare into Ethan's eyes.

"You smell amazing..." he said, almost sounding brainwashed with euphoria.

Ethan looked back with the same enthusiasm. His right arm came off of his neck and played around in his ridiculously soft hair. Then he held Danny's chin in place as he longingly stared at him.

"You _look _amazing..." Ethan softly replied.

Suddenly, his arms caught themselves back at Danny's waist as he pulled him in even closer. Their faces were inches apart and they could feel each others breathing from the push and pull of their chests up to the hot and cold of their exhales.

Danny couldn't resist. He felt as if his insides were on fire, and that same feeling of butterflies overcame him. Why didn't he feel like this when Ethan body slammed him into the ground at cross-country practice? Without a second thought, Danny pleaded with the guy in front of him.

"Kiss me." He begged.

"Thought you'd never ask..."

It took all Ethan had to force his animalistic instincts aside and let his human form enjoy the company that was Danny's kiss. The excitement he found in letting Danny be his anchor fueled an insatiable lust between himself and his inner wolf. A groan escaped from Danny as Ethan pulled at his lips with a soft nibble. The sound pushed Ethan further. A growl unable to be mimicked perfectly by human means went from Ethan's throat and vibrated between their lips. Danny had to push off for air multiple times, and Ethan paused to let him do so. After about a minute of this though, Ethan had to call it off. He let Danny rest against him, the common sounds of the night continuing to do their part and make their moment that much more memorable.

"Come inside." Ethan finally said during their embrace. "The pizza's gettin' cold."

Danny nodded and quietly followed behind Ethan, closing the door behind him as he did. He still had shell-shock from their kiss, and he wanted the feeling it gave him to linger for as long as it could. Ethan did something to Danny that he couldn't quite describe, and now those butterflies were doing tricks inside his gut that he didn't know they were capable of. He'd been fighting the urge to faint since he stepped out of his vehicle- now all he wanted to do was lie down and have Ethan in his arms. It was the right choice coming over to Ethan's tonight, that was for sure. Danny was just thanking his good luck that the impromptu battle with his subconscious ended up with him being at the right place at the right time.

They walked into what Danny made out to be the living room, which was highly decorated with white leather loveseats and an "L" shaped sofa that Danny almost went weak over. A fireplace kept the room at a warm and smoky temperature as the ceiling fan feet above cast a beautiful reflection on the glass coffee table underneath it. He felt it was an injustice to sit on anything but the floor- and even then sitting on the glossy hardwood might be an injustice in it's own right. Ethan noticed Danny's surprise and humbly chuckled as he crept up behind him and squeezed him at the stomach.

"You know..." He started as he buried his face into Danny's neck. "You could just sit down. I'm pretty sure the couch doesn't bite."

Danny was dumbfounded, even as Ethan playfully nipped at the nape of his neck with his teeth. Seeing as Danny wasn't budging, he pushed Danny along as if they were dancing, carefully ending with Danny on the end of the sofa; his hands were in his lap like a small schoolchild.

"Aww, you look so cute, Daniel." Ethan joked.

"Well how am I supposed to look?" Danny snapped, keeping up with Ethan's sarcastic quip. "Your house is gorgeous..."

"Eh..." he shrugged nonchalantly . "It's alright."

He walked up a little to the coffee table and picked up the remote on the right out of a set of three. After pressing a button that Danny couldn't see from his seated position, a television appeared from a hidden space in the wooden planks of the wall.

"Don't go spastic on me about this too, alright?" he said with a wink behind him towards Danny.

Danny shrank into the couch in response, blushing as he looked in another direction. Instinct kicked in out of nowhere, and in a split second he had the same remote Ethan just had in his grasp.

"Nice catch." Ethan smirked. He walked over and clasped his hands around Danny's, meeting his eyes for a second as he looked back down to the device.

"TV. Fireplace. Lights. Fan. Fish tank." Ethan playfully snickered at the last one as he pointed at several places in the room and then behind him towards a built-in wall aquarium. "It's universal; controls everything in here more or less."

Danny scanned over the gadget in his hands as Ethan moved his hands away from his own. His eyes rolled as he made out the most obvious fact about the device.

"It's labeled, Ethan." he said as he gestured the remote with a shake.

The signature grin Ethan loves so much returned as Danny caught on. He had already began walking off to the other room, with Danny watching him do so.

"Duh," he snickered. "Sit tight. I'll get us something to drink..."

And within a matter of seconds, Ethan was gone, with only the clamor of glassware and the opening and closing of refrigerator doors being heard from the next room over.

_Welp. _Danny thought as he scanned over the room he currently sat in. _You're here now. So far so good. Let's hope the rest of the night can go this smooth..._


	3. Starry Eyed

_**Chapter Three:**_

_**Starry Eyed  
**_

* * *

As he'd hoped, the night Danny was having at Ethan's place was going pretty damn smoothly, all things considered.

Ethan had decided on renting _Mr. & Mrs. Smith, _that amazing assassin movie with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, and Danny learned Ethan loved the flick just as much as he does. He even found out for himself that it was the movie Ethan had been watching before he'd come over; which explained the explosions and gunfire that was heard on the other end of the phone. Ethan insisted that they lay on the couch together and watch- Danny ultimately enjoying the gesture. It took him a second or two to finally get comfortable, but having Ethan hold him so close made the process quicker. They cuddled up next to each other, with Danny resting comfortably in Ethan's arms as they attempted- or at least _pretended_ -to actually watch the movie.

Too much of the movie had passed them for either one of them to care what was happening, plus Danny's mind had wandered off towards other things. Other _people. _More specifically towards Ethan, who himself was focused on a weird odor he kept smelling in the house. It wasn't familiar to anything he'd smelt in some time, but he'd recognized the... _fragrance? _It was too weird for him to tell. It became especially harder to fathom seeing as the only two people living in the house were himself and his twin brother, and he knew Aidan wasn't too fond of smelling like something this sweet. But why was the fragrance _so sweet smelling_? He'd assumed it to be the dish soap that was used to clean the plates he and Danny ate off of. It matched it pretty closely... Maybe it mixed in with the scent of their discarded foods and started to mimic the aroma? Ethan tilted his head over the flat edge of the sofa to take a better sniff. Danny was left to lower himself even further into the plushness of the couch, thinking Ethan was just trying to get more comfortable by adjusting his weight. The scent of his intake did nothing to quiet the inner wolfs subconscious as he glared from the platter of china and finalized his gaze back to the television.

Said plates, now emptied of the snacks they held earlier in the night, rested at the foot of the sofa next to a trash bin Danny had never noticed. On the coffee table in front of them, their glassware sat out of the view of the television. Small pools of deep red lined the rings at the bottom of each, the soda they'd been drinking guzzled to the last drop in Ethan's cup. With most of the pepperoni and sausage pizza gone- Ethan had a surprisingly big appetite -and the soda Danny had been given mostly taken in, it took a lot for them to maintain their composure and not force themselves onto one another.

...That of course hadn't meant they _didn't _force themselves onto each other.

Just when the movie hit the part where Angelina pretends to go to the bathroom and instead lets off a bomb inside of that fancy restaurant, Ethan decidedly had his fill of the film and immediately pulled Danny's face into his own. They proceeded to make out, Ethan with his Romeo, and Danny didn't object to it at all. In fact, he was really impatiently waiting for it himself and thought the movie had gone on for long enough anyways. Sure, _Mr. & Mrs. Smith _was one of his favorite movies, and he'd take a day of watching the flick to himself any time..._just not this particular one._

Feeling the moment called for it, Danny scuffled around himself for that universal remote Ethan loved so much. He had a hard time focusing enough during their caressing to actually get up and search, and hoped serendipity would lead his only free arm to it seeing as the other was wrapped around Ethan's waist. His hand hit the floor with a soft thud, accidentally hitting the right button and lowering the brightness of the lights around them to a degree. Once he knew he found it, Danny aimed it at the movie and pressed the "off" button, letting the remote carelessly fall back to the floor afterwards. Finally, the television set had permission to disappear behind the wooded walls altogether, and left both Ethan and Danny in the clear to do just about whatever they wanted. They celebrated this by allowing their hands to freely trace the curvature of each others bodies.

They were both lying on the couch in this dimness now- Ethan pushed up on top and Danny lying underneath him -passionately in the moment with nothing and no one there to stop them. Ethan, being above him like he was, playfully pulled at Danny's earlobes with his teeth as he moved from his lips to end at the surrounding areas of his neck. His hands made their way up Danny's shirt, their jacket long since discarded somewhere about the room. As Ethan's head stayed around Danny's waistline, he felt their lips carefully tracing his naval, hinting at something Ethan was too embarrassed and masculine to admit he wanted to do. He met eyes with Ethan as he looked back up to him with a blushed face. They both shared a soft laugh as Danny took Ethan's hand and let it creep back up to the top of his chest.

After suggestively squeezing the surrounding area of his pectorals, Ethan let Danny sit up in front of him to fully remove the upper layers of his clothing. As he did so, Ethan's own sweater flew off, landing softly in an area of the room he still didn't care about. Danny let himself lay back down on his back, as Ethan overpowered him and pinned his arms over his head. His face was buried in Danny's neck again, this time making sure to leave bites that would surely have a mark left over by tomorrow morning.

Moans and longing gasps escaped them both, accompanied by the ever-fueling growls from within Ethan's inner wolf. Danny's back arched as Ethan pulled his right hand slowly along the side of his body, stopping just at the brim of his jeans. When he did this, everything seemed to come back into focus; it was as if time had started to sneak back up on them.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, babe." Ethan said as his eyes shot back up to meet with Danny's.

Danny wouldn't object, shifting his waist around willingly to brush against Ethan's lower half.

"My shirt's already off, right?" He said with a lustful dullness in his voice. Ethan smiled at the comment. "If I wanted you to stop, I would have stopped you by now..."

Ethan longingly stared at Danny for a few seconds, letting the mental picture he was forming linger. He gave him one more hardened kiss, pulling back on his companions bottom lip as he pulled himself away.

"Let's go upstairs, Danny." he finally said after sighing off the pleasure of their smooch.

Danny was consciously no longer present. His mind drifted off to focus on the impatient sexual drive this moment was giving to him. As he felt time starting to lose its place again, he hardly even remembered standing let alone saying "_Let's_..."

After Ethan stood himself up, Danny followed him off the couch, catching his extended hand in his own to be helped to his feet. They stood in front of the couch and looked into each others eyes just before sharing one more kiss between themselves.

Ethan's signature grin reappears as he pulls Danny by his waistline, leading him to the wooden staircase in the next hallway over. Eagerly, Danny allows himself to be dragged along. Time was drifting away again, and he took it as a good sign as they made their way to the base of the steps.

So many things swam through his head at this point.

For one, Danny never thought he'd be going this far with Ethan so soon. It wasn't really so much as _soon _as it was just waiting for the right moment, and maybe that's what he was telling himself instead. He didn't think tonight would go _this _well, but what did he really expect? Ethan was making a point in proving that he had Danny's back... just not in the sense of Danny being pulled at the pelvis like he was. Sure, Danny had his original doubts about letting Ethan get this close, but it was only because he knew what could happen if he got too comfortable in the relationship. Danny was being careful- and doing a good job at it thus far -it just took the events of tonight for him to realize that he wasn't exactly being fair. Ethan wasn't his ex...and well, truthfully... _No one _was as bad as his ex. He knew that he had to put himself back out there if he was ever going to find the right guy to be with. Of course now, he wouldn't have to _find_ him anymore...

_Because I _have_ him... _Danny thought as he almost floated over each step one-by-one.

Weirdly enough though, as excited as Ethan was, something in the back of his mind had him on high alert. After passing the discarded scraps of food and drink in the other room, the aroma he started to smell earlier hit him harder then it had at first. It still wasn't distinguishable, but Ethan was _definitely _sure he'd caught a whiff of it once or twice before- and it _definitely wasn't _anything he or Aidan had ever purchased. As he climbed the narrow staircase that lead to his bedroom, he tried to dismiss it as the scent of a girl Aidan probably had over on one of _his_ dates. It did little to quiet his nerves, but having Danny by the pull of his midsection took his mind off of it some.

Within a few seconds, they reached the white paneled door to Ethan's room. With a twist of the knob, Ethan took Danny and forcefully threw him onto the bed close by. The pure force sent adrenaline coursing through Danny's body. He was raring to go, but Ethan still had preparations to set up. The curtains were drawn, so Ethan walked over to pull them back and let the pale light of the half moon fill whatever areas it could to set the mood. He could see everything just fine, light or none, but as he watched the beautiful orange glow of Danny's body on his bed, he realized it may very well still be too dark.

"Should I hit the lights?" Ethan asks as he walks back over to the door to close it.

Danny scanned the room in a quick motion from his vantage point along the edge of the bed. From what he could tell, everything was pretty much discernible. The closet was across from him on the wall towards the left. The bedroom door- and Ethan's _Adonis-like_ body - was on the right, and directly on his left at the end of the king sized bed he lay on was the silhouette being cast about the room by the moonlight. It definitely added to the ambiance Ethan was more than likely trying to set up, and Danny knew what was coming next for all of his hard work.

_Turning on any lights would just ruin that..._

With that in mind, Ethan got his answer. Danny yanked Ethan over to the bed to fall on top of him.

Trying to stay as calm as he possibly could, he pulled Ethan in and whispered in his ear, "...No, keep the damn thing off..."

Almost immediately, Ethan and Danny started up their own sensual embraces. As their lips played around with each other, their tongues joined in of their own accord. Wherever they could manage to get one out, a moan or a growl would pop up between them, the sounds of which tempted them to rush into things that would likely end up ruining their moment sooner than they would want it to. Restraint had to take hold, and luckily enough, they both knew enough about holding back from experience. Once or twice, Danny or Ethan backed off a little for a bit of air. If either one of them were drowning though, they were both A-OK with it. This continued for a few minutes, feeling like hours to all those involved..._especially _the uninvited guest that was currently camped out in Ethan's closet.

Frantically, said guest filed around in their shirt pocket, the floral print of their jacket lightly illuminated by the light of their cellphone. They knew their intentions for pulling it out, but contemplated the action of calling anyone due to the light being cast off like it was. To test their theory of being caught by the flash, they slowly shined the bulk of it against the carpeted floor of the room, sighing a breath of relief once they'd realized it matched the same intensity of the moonlight pouring in from outside.

Ethan, lying atop Danny along the length of the bed now, leaned up on his partner to watch his facial expressions. Gasps were heavily puffing out of him as Ethan stared, and Danny was literally seconds away from pleading for him to come back to his lips and finish what he'd only _just_ started. Ethan really had to hold himself back to get the finishing touch of the night in full swing. Using the thought of having Danny to himself as an anchor of sorts, he managed to calm down just enough to enact the final piece.

"Let me play some music..." he casually said with a smirk as he reached over to his right and pressed a key on his laptop.

As it lit up, a playlist of assorted songs was already on the screen; the title of which Danny couldn't see from it previously being scrolled down past. With a hit of the "Enter" key, an already highlighted track started to play. Danny quickly caught on that most of the night was already planned, but shut the thought up to remind himself of how cute the gesture of it all was. Once the beginning melodies began to hum and fill the room, Ethan knew he'd done everything to the letter to make the night as perfect as it was about to be. Nothing could go wrong now. He turned back to Danny as he pulled the laptop screen downward, letting it stay slightly ajar as to not end the song abruptly. A smile, this time not at all silly in any way, placed itself on his grill as he watched Danny's reaction to the intro.

**_...Oh, boy you're starry eyed..._**

**_Lie back... Baby lie back..._**

**_...You've got heaven in your eyes..._**

**_I like that... Oh, I like that..._**

Danny listened to the angelic voice for a few lines as she sang, staring back at Ethan happily as the song played. Her voice was so mesmerizing- a perfect mix of sound and quality that blended in beautifully with the soft keys of music going on behind it.

"...What song is this, Ethan?" Danny asked as his arms made their way around Ethan's neck.

"_Our song_, babe..." he replied as they reentered another session of kissing.

The night was set in motion as the song played around them at the perfect volume.

**_...Life doesn't always work out..._**

**_Like you planned it..._**

_Boy, ain't _that _the truth... _Danny thought as his eyes closed and let something other than himself take over.

If this was going to be their song- their _actual _song -he was liking it so far. Every word of it seemed to be made for this night- which Danny laughed off as a silly thought but it was so accurate at the same time.

**_They say make lemonade out of lemons_**

**_but I've tried and I just can't understand it..._**

Neither he nor Ethan ever had a real reason to focus enough on the bad in their relationship to try and make the better out of it. Nothing they'd gone through together was honestly _that _bad. There was a fright or two for the obvious reasons, but to Danny they were all just circumstantial events. Even though the lyrics were so beautiful, those were the only lines of the song that didn't make much sense to him.

As they moved and pushed against each other, Danny wondered why Ethan went to so much trouble just for him. In truth, a night like this one was coming; Danny just wasn't sure _when _it was going to come. But why go to such an extent? He asked himself if he would've went about it like Ethan did had it been fully left up to him. Would he have done it tonight? Would he throw on a movie like Ethan did only to have it set them up for a kiss? Would he want that kiss to later put them in the bed together under the moonlight? Would there be pizza and soda _first_... or _later_? _Does Ethan even like root beer?_ That's all he had at his house at the moment. Danny took all this into consideration before the song in the background let out a lyric that really hit home with him.

**_...All this trying for no good reason..._**

**_Man makes plans and God laughs..._**

**_Why do I even bother to ask?_**

He thought it was weird how conveniently placed that part was. Danny did slightly feel bad for even asking all these questions about it. If he was reading the song correctly so far, he could tell it meant that he was here with Ethan now for a reason... _and there was no reason to question that._

**_Well... _**

**_Once, you and I, _**

**_We were the King and Queen of this town..._**

**_...It doesn't matter now, the sun's setting on the love,_**

**_bye baby..._**

Danny continuously scratched at Ethan's back while the song played on, lyrics repeating on itself from there. He felt as if someone had pure control over him now, only leaving him to watch as they took the helm and kept the night going at a good pace. The closet doors were styled like blinders and had narrow slits in between, so their guest inside could easily see the action taking place on the bed not but ten feet away. They inhaled and exhaled carefully to be just under the volume level of Ethan and his apparent chew toys merriment.

_What is it with Ethan and biting at Danny's neck like that...? _They asked as they tried to think of a way out of their situation.

Now panicking, they punched in a number as fast and as quietly as possible, holding the phone closely to their ear as it rang.

Luckily, it didn't take long for the recipient to answer from the other end, which surprised the caller as they prepared to beg for help.

"Allison?" the feminine voice said. "What's up?"

"Lydia!" Allison whispered back as loud as her whisper would allow her to.

"...Speaking...?" Her voice sounded questionable now, wondering who she'd just answered the phone for. "May I ask who's calling?"

Allison didn't lose her volume, keeping it at a good enough level as she spoke.

"It's me, Lydia! It's _Allison_! You've got to help me!"

"_'Help _you?_'_" Lydia repeated, worry apparent in the tone of her response. "You're not still at Aidan's are you?" Danny let out an extremely loud groan as Ethan did something to him that Allison luckily missed.

"...and what's that noise in the backg-"

"Listen to me! I'm still stuck here; it didn't work!" Allison's whisper threatened to get to a pitch higher as she worriedly addressed her friend.

"What do you mean _'it didn't work?'_?!" Lydia screamed, prompting Allison to quickly cover her cellphone with a clasped hand. "You couldn't find it?!"

"No, I couldn't! Now listen to me, please! I'm stuck in his closet, I don't even think I'm in the right _room_!"

"You're in the room with the white door, right?" Lydia asked. "Gold doorknob?"

"Yes, but I don't think it's in here! And it's bad 'Lid... It's really bad in here-"

"WAIT!" Lydia shrieked almost too audibly.

_"What?!"_ Allison almost shouted back as she covered her phone up again.

Lydia took a pause before responding, but Allison knew she was still there because she could hear the noises of a bowling alley in her background.

**_...Oh, boy you're starry eyed..._**

**_Lie back... Baby lie back..._**

**_...You've got heaven in your eyes..._**

**_I like that... Oh, I like that..._**

"...Oh my god..." Lydia said, causing Allison's heart to catch in her throat from the suspense.

**_...Life doesn't always work out..._**

**_Like you planned it..._**

"...Is that Lana Del Rey? I _love _her!"

Allison rolled her eyes as she tried to get Lydia to focus enough to help her out of their predicament. As she did this, she tuned back in to the lyrics of the song currently playing, trying to gauge how much time she had left before she'd _really _be on her own.

"Lydia, just focus for me, okay? I've stepped into some big crap over here!"

"Okay, okay! Just...just gimme a second, alright? Let me think..."

Allison allowed her the time, impatiently tapping her foot but making no noticeable sound from the plushy material underneath her black boot.

**_They say make lemonade out of lemons_**

**_but I've tried and I can't understand it..._**

"Okay, uhm~ What's happening? Who's in there?" Lydia finally asks.

Allison's throat catches again as she answers.

"...It's Danny and Ethan..."

"What? ...What are they doing...?"

The pause Allison gave her in response hinted at the answer to that question.

"...Oh..." she said, catching on. "_Ooooohhhhh..._ Yea, that _is bad_..."

"Yea, it is!..." Allison said coldly. "I remember one so-called _'friend' _telling me that Ethan was going out tonight!"

"No, I told you I _thought _Ethan was going out tonight. I saw him buying a DVD at Movie-Buster, remember?"

Meanwhile, Danny's pants made a beeline for the floor as Ethan unbuttoned the fly to his own.

**_...Oh, boy you're starry eyed..._**

**_Lie back... Baby, lie back..._**

"This song is amazing, Ethan..." Danny said breathlessly as he was pulled by his legs to Ethan's waist.

**_...You've got heaven in your eyes..._**

"...Perfect for you, baby..." he replied with a loving seriousness as Danny was rendered barren in one quick motion.

**_I like that... Oh, I like that..._**

Danny gave his next sentence some thought, scared to say what he was truly feeling at the moment. He let the song play on a bit as he made up his mind enough to muster up the courage. Ethan could hear Danny's heart beating faster now, and his own matched the speed by the millisecond. They both knew what was coming next, but each was apprehensive to let the words leave their mouth. Danny, now fully exposed to Ethan body and all, sat still for a while under the veil of the night as the music went on without the beauty of Ethan and Danny's embrace following it.

**_...Life doesn't always work out..._**

**_like you planned-  
_**

Before Lana could finish, Ethan leaned over and paused the song. Once more, they were left staring at each other. Danny's heart picked up in pace, and he started to break into a small sweat to show it. Ethan hated to see him this chocked up about what was happening, because he was having the same feelings he was and admittedly was actually pretty damn happy about what was coming next.

It was that reason that made his next sentence come out at the right time.

"...Just say it, Danny..." he begged. "Say it... _Please_..."

Danny felt as though he was close to fainting, but it was mostly the sickness of being thrown back into the place of whatever was controlling him at first. Everything slowed down at once and crept back into the present, making the moment they were in now go that much slower. He blamed his subconscious for throwing him back in like that without a warning or a tap out, but he had no choice now. He had to say it. Not because he _had to_, but because Danny couldn't believe he _wanted to._

With one final look at him, Danny opened his heart and decided to pour it all out at once.

"...I love you, Ethan..."

Ethan, thinking he was prepared for the words, still grew wide eyed at their meaning. He knew what Danny wanted to say, werewolf powers or no werewolf powers. You didn't need super hearing or amazing sense of smell to know when you were in love. But it scared him a little to know that after reading Danny's breathing and his heart rate... that he was telling the one hundred percent honest _truth_...

His next phrase was obvious. "I love you too, Danny..."

His hand, never having left the pause button on the computer, sank down with enough pressure that their song ended up coming back on. The sudden burst of sound made Ethan jump, and Danny couldn't help but laugh at how cute he looked with his guard let down like it was.

**_They say make lemonade out of lemons_**

**_but I've tried and I can't understand it..._**

Ethan flushed slightly again as Danny joked at his expense. He knew it was out of love though, so he quickly got over it. He looked to his boyfriend and rubbed his hand along Danny's face, and then let pure primal instinct take over. He put his face to Danny's chest, kissed it once, and ended up at his waist again within seconds. Now he was nowhere near embarrassed about what he wanted to do for Danny, it happened almost immediately.

Allison's hand shot up to cover the quivering of her mouth as she turned away to give them both as much privacy as she could. She was falling witness to something she had no business seeing and it made her feel like garbage. Even _she _could tell that those words were coming next. She had it said to her once or twice in the past, and she could tell when that moment was coming. Her stomach began to jump out at her, almost as sick as she was getting for being so close to a moment that was so personal. Guilty didn't even begin to describe how horrible she felt for being where she was at that space in time.

Danny almost screamed from what Ethan started doing to him. The feeling was electric and made his body numb with euphoria. He still pleaded to be taken by Ethan in any way he could conceive, so when Ethan used some of his lycan strength to pull Danny to the opposite end of the bed, he didn't say a word in protest. Ethan noticed Danny's increased submission to his in-bed tactics, and took it as Danny's permission to finally put a seal on an otherwise perfect night. After pulling out a fitting contraceptive from the nightstand his laptop rested on, Ethan prepped himself and was ready to used all he knew to give Danny the time of his life. A time to talk about. Danny's screams and moans of pure pleasure matched the ecstasy Lana was giving them in what was now officially their song.

_**...All this begging for no good reason...**_

**_Man makes plans and God laughs..._**

**_Why do I even bother to ask?_**

**_Well... _**

**_Once, you and I, _**

**_We were the King and Queen of this town..._**

**_...It doesn't matter now, the sun's setting on the love,_**

**_bye-bye, baby..._**

**_...Oh, boy you're starry eyed..._**

**_Lie back... Baby, lie back..._**

**_...You've got heaven in your eyes..._**

**_I like that... Oh, I like that..._**

The song was ending, and Lydia had made Allison listen. The plan she'd given her was to wait until they were so into what they were doing that Allison could just rush out and make her way for the door like she did when she came in, and that would be that. So, listening to the ludicrous scheme, she waited, ear pressed up against the closet door despite how bad she felt for watching Ethan in Danny in their element.

She believed that they were finishing, but wasn't fully sure. Danny more or less confirmed this by letting out an erotically charged cry as Ethan's hand began doing something she'd rather not talk about. But after the screams were over, she realized her face was pressed against the closet door of his room, and the pressure caused her to push the door wide open and fall face first on the floor in front of it.

The accidental crashing noises Allison had made caused Danny to shoot up in fright, completely uncovered in the light of the moon. Ethan popped up from what he was doing right after, flipping up the lightswitch as Danny tried his hardest to cover himself with the nearest item of clothing he could find- Ethan's underwear...

With the lights now on and Allison obviously caught, they all simply stared at each other, with Ethan and Danny in the nude, as Allison stands herself up and respectfully looks to the side to give Ethan time to notice he's standing in the buff as well...

"Uhm..." Allison says as her face flushes a deep shade of crimson. "...Hey, you guys...What's going on...?"

* * *

_**Author's Note: **For those of you who actually read this, I'm sorry this chapter is so long. I tend to get very wordy in descriptions and this is no exception, obviously. I didn't think it'd end up being this long, but adding the build-up to the ending took more editing and revision than I'd originally thought. I'd still **love **to know what you guys think about it so far though. Should I keep writing this? Because I honestly feel like no one's bothering to read it TT_TT sadness..._

_But if you ARE and can leave me a pretty detailed comment thingy about what you liked or don't like, I'd appreciate it. I also appreciate the comments that've been added to this thus far, and if you could keep that up, that'd be great too! :) Hoped you enjoyed this so far though.!_


	4. Growling Pains

_**Chapter Four:**_

_**Growling Pains  
**_

* * *

The situation in Ethan's bedroom was getting _really _bad, _REALLY _fast. The bedroom lights were on and cast light in every nook and cranny of the room possible, making Allison cease to turn her head in any direction towards Danny or himself. Here he was, not but feet away from the bed Danny sat on to his left, completely in the nude and staring at the side of Allison's head as she gingerly glanced away so as to not accidentally look where she didn't need to. His hand stayed frozen on the lightswitch, the other dangling limp at his side, but both of his arms felt numb from everything going on around him. He wondered why Allison refused to look in his general direction, forgetting altogether the one major part about the situation that gave it the awkward atmosphere everyone was being crushed under. Noticing her ever blushing face and tilted head, he caught on quickly enough and leaned down to retrieve a discarded pair of jeans previously belonging to Danny. He gulped a hard swallow in embarrassment as his eyes shot back and forth between her and his broken closet doors. He wasn't entirely sure which scenario he was upset about more at this point, and doubted he'd even have an answer if he was asked later on.

Allison on the other hand, was frozen in place; her eyes closed despite her head being turned far enough to the side where neither Ethan nor Danny were visible. She couldn't even believe what was happening and it _involved _her. Quite literally smack dab in the middle of something that was about to spiral out of control, and yet Allison still believed none of it was happening. Or at least she wanted to believe it wasn't. A quick question of why things like this don't happen to _normal_ teenage girls passed her mind, but she quickly dismissed it. Her life- by no means -was considered _"normal" _and she knew that it was futile to inquire to her "lucky stars" with fantasies like that. Still, she liked to think that even _her _abnormal life would hold back on things matching this level of absurdity... There's only so much a girl can stand to take all at once...

And then there was Danny, who's pulse was beating so rapidly that even Allison could hear it- werewolf powers or none. He shot a look to Ethan, but it made his heart hurt. No, literally, he felt like he was in utter pain. In the back of his mind, he imagined that this was what you feel just before the beginning of a heart attack. Did Allison's abrupt appearance really scare him _that _badly? Was he even _old enough _for a heart attack? He was certainly too _healthy_ for one, that was for sure, but the thought of collapsing on the bed from heart failure seemed so realistic at this point that it only made his pain worse. Just like Allison, Danny wouldn't move, and Lana Del Rey only added to the awkwardness as she finished the last remaining lines of her song...

_**...Oh, boy you're starry eyed...**_

_**Lie back... Baby, lie back...**_

_**...You've got heaven in your eyes...**_

_**I like that... Oh, I-**_

Hearing this, and being the only one close enough to do so, Danny reached over and closed the laptop with a loud slam. He was still barren and exposed to the world, so he felt, but Allison couldn't see and Ethan payed him enough respect not to look in his direction either. The music cut short just before the final lines of the song went along, leaving Ethan, Allison and himself in utter silence- not even the noise of the outside world bothering to intrude on the awkward situation. What felt like a loop of hours in repeated silence was really only a real minute or so from Allison's initial fall from the closet behind her. When Ethan finally spoke up, however, it still felt as if they'd all been stuck in the never-ending spell of déjà vu.

"Allison?!" he yelled in disbelief, finally pulling his mind back enough to realize who she was. With a quick sniff no one seemed to notice, he could finally remember where that flowery perfume scent came from, and his stomach flew into knots at the cognizance.

Danny forced himself to pass another glance between Allison and Ethan, both of whom still would not look in his direction. His mind began to race with questions he _wanted _to ask, but didn't truthfully want the answer to.

"What're you doing in my closet?!" Ethan asked, surprisingly knocking one of Danny's own questions off the list.

Allison didn't speak, merely flinching at the raising levels in Ethan's tone. Her head still wouldn't move, but her mouth pleaded with her to at least say something.

"Er...I...gah... I'm...Ah..." she simply said, speaking more gibberish than she had the intelligence for.

_Nice job, Allison. GREAT answer! _

Hey, at least her _brain_ still worked...

Danny was insulted by Allison's less than satisfying remark. Despite his nudity, he jumped from Ethan's bed in a frenzy, pushing him aside as he beelines for the door.

Noticing this, Ethan recovered from his now downed position, and reached out for Danny to stay.

"Wait!" he yelled as he stood himself back upright. Danny quickly pulled away and snatched the pants now dangling around Ethan's waistline. They were now inches apart, with Danny sliding back on his jeans- with no boxers beneath -and Ethan slipping on his newly found boxer-briefs.

Now fully clothed, or at least dressed enough for _some_ type of conversation, Ethan pleaded with his boyfriend.

"I can explain this, alright?" he said.

Danny had heard that one before. _Plenty of times before..._ It was the same type of crap he'd been fed from ex's who were caught in the act as well. He wondered if he could even call this situation being "caught in the act", because if he _could, _then it meant something that Danny was just _way_ too out of it to contemplate without giving himself a sickening migraine afterwards. The fact that he was finding himself in some of the _exact _same feelings that those past situations left him in made his face turn a fiery red. This time, an anger he never knew himself capable of conjuring stirred itself within him. Danny had been able to get aggressive enough during lacrosse- hell, even _cross-country _practice brought out a little bit of an adrenaline coated anger within him -but the anger he felt now was much different.

It was so infuriating in fact that he had no idea why tears started pouring out of his eyes when he came up to Ethan and gave him the hardest punch he could manage squarely in the jaw.

"Oh my god..." Allison squealed in utter disbelief, halting Danny from continuing his onslaught like he wanted to.

At this point, Allison was just watching, having somewhat gotten over the childishness of flinching away from their now partial nudity. She had seen enough of them both tonight as it is and looking away now would just be ridiculous. She was looking for the whole while after they'd both gotten themselves moderately dressed. Both were still shirtless- and Danny's pants were still slipping a little too far below his waist from the lack of a belt or underclothing -but she'd more or less seen them like that after lacrosse practice anyways. Seeing a guy with no shirt on wasn't nearly as bad as seeing two chicks without a bra on by a long shot... _to her at least..._ As she quickly got over their bare skin, she could only watch as Danny reeled back and socked Ethan like he had done. The blunt of the blow wouldn't do much damage to Ethan at all thanks to his lycantrophy- and Allison knew that. Still, her hand clasped quickly enough around her own jaw as Ethan tripped over himself from the punch and landed in the embrace of his mattress.

"You son of a bitch!" Danny yelled as he restrained himself from pouncing over onto Ethan and physically destroying him. He had a mind to do- and say -the same to Allison, but the girly gasp she let out as Danny hit Ethan earlier made him remember what gender she still was and he called it off. Still, he wasn't without words for the both of them.

"I trusted you, Ethan!" he continued, his voice cracking as tears threatened to escape faster than he could control. "I _trusted _you and..." His gaze shot to Allison, the sheer coldness of the glare making her jump back in terror. "...And you... And you go and pull off something like _this?!_"

"I can explain, Danny!" Ethan said as he tried to focus enough on his dislocated jaw to start the healing process. He could still manage to talk enough to try and reason with him, though. "I swear I had no idea-"

Danny quickly cut him off, pointing an accusing finger at Allison but never breaking eye contact with Ethan.

"And what the hell is _she _doing hiding out in your closet anyways?!" Ethan rubbed his jaw as his throat began to catch up with him. He wanted to burst into a fit of tears right along with Danny, but felt like he didn't have the permission to do so.

"Is this what you made me come over for?! Some awkward threesome with someone else's _girlfriend_!?"

Allison attempted to step in. Calmly, softly and carefully, she tried to mediate the situation before it got any heavier.

"Now wait, Danny-"

His finger turned into a fist as Danny's voice reached an epic volume. "You shut the _hell _up, Allison!" he screamed, making dead eye contact with her as he yelled it.

Defeated, she had no choice but to oblige.

Ethan was now back on his feet, trying to pass over the one step it would take to get close enough to Danny to hold him in place.

"Danny, please..." he begged, not testing him further by actually taking that step outwards. "Just listen to me, okay?"

It was pointless. Danny was already so pulsed with adrenaline that everything he was saying at this point was a heartbroken verbalization of every bit of pain he was feeling now.

"You're some piece of work, Ethan! You _really_ had me fooled!" At least his hands weren't balled into fists anymore, but Ethan was more so worried about the alarmingly fast pace Danny's heart started to race in. It was unlike anything he'd heard his heart do, and that made him begin to panic inwardly as his inner wolf listened in on it.

"...What was all this for, huh?" Danny continued with a confused shrug. "Why the movies? The _pizza_? ...Why the hell would you put all that effort into something so _stupid_?!" He started to feel sick as his subconscious gave him a ludicrous answer. "Was it all just a front, Ethan...?"

Danny's question felt like another hard punch to the gut as he asked.

"Was it just to add my name to your _bucket_ _list_? To try and see how long it would take for me to fall for you...?" He choked as his next sentence escaped him like a solemn whimper. "...To tell you that I _loved _you...?"

Both Allison and Ethan spoke up this time. Danny was thinking so irrationally at this point that even _she_ sympathetically wanted to burst into tears. She managed to let loose a few drops during Danny's rant that she couldn't help but release. Her guilt was piling up into something unmovable, but Ethan's heart was crumbling to pieces around him.

"Danny, stop!" they said, hearing enough.

"_No! You stop!" _Danny shouted back, throwing an arm around as if to push their voices away.

He looked once more at Allison, her eyes now flowing with sorrowful tears, and once more back to Ethan...who stood there with less than a sliver of moisture in his own.

"...Just _stop..._" he finished with a final painful sob.

Ethan and Allison again said nothing. They couldn't even begin to with Danny being as irate as he was. Nothing they could say- or wanted to say -would get through to him strongly enough to where he would even _consider _listening to them. To them, Danny was just hurt from thinking he had been tricked by another boyfriend. But the harsh reality of it all was that Danny was going through the painful realization of thinking that he could honestly trust no one. Friends were becoming an even bigger curse to him than his _boy_friends were, and one Jackson Whittemore crossed his mind as he thought about this. Even those he held dear to him as his bestfriends had all eventually deserted him and left without less than a word of a goodbye. No one had ever truly been there for Danny...

Not his _parents_.

Not his _friends_.

...Not even Ethan...

And the pure agony these emotions gave him made Danny plead with his subconscious, begging it to cease and leave him alone... For everyone and everything to just go away...

"...Please just stop..." he said again, but this time to a presence bigger than Allison and Ethan combined. He almost shrank down on himself and fell to his knees from his sobs, which were growing more and more intense by the second. Allison and Ethan could do nothing, and that alone was causing them the same pang of helplessness that no one would want to feel for their friends.

He took the fact that Ethan _wasn't_ crying as a sign that everything he had said so far was true:

...That Ethan was just like all the other guys...

...That he only went to all this trouble for some sick threeway fantasy...

...That Ethan _didn't _actually love him the way Danny thought he might've...

...That he was just another pretty face with an ugly personality to match...

Attempting to cope with that realization, Danny opened up the door to Ethan's room, ran out of it in a hurry and let the force of his pull slam it shut behind him. Ethan tried to run up to Danny and catch him before he made it out into the hallway, but it was too late. For once, not even his werewolf speed was quick enough to grab hold of his estranged lover.

As he pulled away from the door, now shut in front of him, Ethan's arm lightly bumped something soft close behind. Forgetting who else was with him for a brief moment, his head snapped back, shocked at whom he failed to remember was there. He noticed Allison's hand pulling back from the door as well and she instinctively took a few good steps back from Ethan's position. His eyes grew wide in disbelief. Allison was really in his room? She was really hiding in his closet that whole time? The physical reason Danny left out in such a saddened rage was still but mere steps away from him? ..._And he was just going to sit there do nothing about it?! _The unfathomable hatred Ethan was feeling bubbled over deep within his being. His eyes glowed a foreboding shade of yellow that Allison grew uneasy upon watching.

Noticing the flesh around his face curling back in a snarling motion, she stood her ground and allowed her stance to show that she was preparing for the worst.

Hoping things could be discussed before they got that far, Allison maintained her soft tone, and put her arms up slowly.

"Ethan..." she calmly uttered. "Let me explain before this gets out of hand, okay?"

She'd forgotten her cellphone in her right hand, but Ethan noticed it right away. His wet guttural snarling continued underneath a murderous glare as his eyes shot up to it, and what he heard sent him into a fit of pure madness...

_**...Allison...?**_

It was Lydia, yelling into the phone from the other end of the call she never hung up on... Allison couldn't quite hear it, and didn't even notice Ethan was listening before it really was too late.

_**...Hello?...**_

_**...Did you get out of Ethan's place yet...?**_

_**Did they notice you were there?**_

_**Oh, god! I bet the looks on their faces would've been priceless!**_

_**...Allison? **_

_**...Helloooo~~~?**_

_**You still there, honey?**_

_**Don't tell me you're still stuck in his closet?!**_

_**Oh, for Christ's sake, girl!**_

_**Just run out of there while they're still gettin' busy!**_

_**They'll never even know you were in there!**_

_**...Allison!? Hey, Allison-!**_

Ethan had heard enough. Every single thing Lydia said only threw more forest into the path of the wildfire that was Ethan's inner wolf. Before he knew it, a huge hole presented itself in the wall that used to hold the lightswitch to the bedroom. In his rage, Ethan swung an arm around and sent it crashing into the whole of it, causing a huge shower of sparks to fly off before the power in the room went out completely. The booming sound of the smash sent a jolt of fear through Allison that caused her to drop her phone to the floor, it falling to pieces once it hit the ground below. The call with Lydia ended there, and left her alone in the pale moonlight with what was quickly becoming a deranged animal.

In the ominous darkness the moonlight created, Allison could almost feel the paralyzing fierceness of Ethan's phosphorescent eyes. His mouth drooled over with thick clouds of maddened foam, matching a wild dog in appearance. With one quick motion, his head tilted upward, and a blood curdling howl echoed throughout the room, shaking the very foundations of the house itself. Framed pictures, closet shelves and even Ethan's laptop all fell from their original perches, crashing to the ground below in broken messes. Luckily enough, Danny wasn't there for any of this, probably long gone by now with no real purpose for coming back.

"Ethan, listen to me!" Allison shouted over his screams. She could tell nothing she said had gotten to him though.

Ethan swung another arm to the other side of him, shattering the closet doors where Allison had just seconds prior been standing. His body now formed the frightening figure of his werewolf form, something Allison hadn't seen since she couldn't remember when as it towered over her. He was now mere inches away from her, and _way _more than his average difference in height _over_ her, baring his fangs in such a threatening way that left Allison with little choices left. Remembering something given to her by the order of her Argent bloodline, she reached to her side and pulled out the trusty Wolf Taser baton she always carries. It was just in the nick of time too, because just as Ethan lunged at her, did she pry open the mutli-tiered weapon and zap Ethan's midsection in midair. The shock of the stabbing motion, and the twenty something thousand volts of electricity she sent coursing through his body, left Ethan in a paralyzed mess of himself on the floor behind her. He was rendered unconscious as he slammed into the nearby wall headfirst and his liveliness suddenly slipped away from him in a matter of seconds.

After about a half an hour later, Ethan was left alone in the darkness of his bedroom. The power was still out, that much he could tell from the blood red outline everything had. He could see fairly decently in the darkness, and for some odd reason that was the color everything took to when he was forced to look out into the pitch black of the room around him. Moonlight wasn't seeping into his room like before, the moon having retreated away with the night sky to leave Ethan alone with his thoughts. He was lying on his back in the unsettling comfort of his bed, obviously by Allison's doing. He didn't have to sniff to notice it, but he was the only one in the house now. Despite the howl he let out earlier, Aiden had not managed to return just yet and he found himself scared to be so alone when he needed his brother's company so badly. A wet cloth had been placed on his forehead, and it was starting to irritate him. With an angered toss, he threw it off and it hit the wall with a splat as it fell to the floor seconds later. This left Ethan with no distractions from what had occurred. Nothing to take his mind off the perfect night that he thought he had planned from start to finish.

He kept going over the "if-only's":

If only he had managed to remember that scent. If only he'd have listened to his instincts and found Allison earlier. If only he hadn't suppressed his abilities just to be as human as he could manage to be with Danny...

...'_With Danny'..._ he thought as he felt around his bedding. Seconds later, he sadly realized whom he was looking for was no longer there.

The events of the night would apparently not let themselves be forgotten. Sure, Ethan had been unconscious, but he wasn't so comatose to where he would forget something like this that quick. As the sounds of more broken glass and wooden planks fell down around him, he tried to come to terms with the fact that Danny was gone. With the misunderstanding of tonight being as strong as it was, Ethan doubted he would get him back so easily, either. His throat caught as he pondered this- pondering how unfair it all was. Why was karma being such a bitch to him _now_? Of all the chances Ethan gave her to do her worst, the idiot goes and ruins the one night he expected absolutely _nothing _to go wrong on.

What he was feeling at this point was a familiar pain, and his eyes began to itch with the preliminary signs of it. His heart was broken. It had beaten to a pulp and spat on as it was mocked and ridiculed like it was less than nothing. He felt it was being tossed about like toys by the very hands who had created it. As he blamed the universe for his woes, Ethan's subconscious mind wished he wouldn't think like he was. It did nothing to help the situation as his eyes flooded over with moisture. But he didn't stop them from coming. The bad thoughts nor his tears. He was now finally alone enough to where the full force of his emotions could come out. His heart was aching so heavily that he wished he could just rip it out and let it drag the house down on top of him under it's weight. Ethan whimpered as he wept, his child-like sobs coming out worse than Danny's managed to. He had felt this pain before, but only once. It was just before his drastic move to Beacon Hills, when he had more enemies than friends, and Danny wasn't even a factor up until a few weeks later.

As insult added to injury, Ethan's phone vibrated nearby. It was on the floor, in a pair of pants that Ethan realized was his own. Weakly, he pulled himself up to retrieve it, and wanted to literally die when he saw who it was from.

_**New Text Message From**_

_**-Danny-**_

If he was being sarcastic about karma being a bitch at first, he meant it now more than ever- and in all seriousness, too. He had forgotten that his cellphone reminds him of the texts he never opens by resending them later as fake "new messages". If it weren't for the time-stamp that told him that the message was _actually _sent at just around the head of nine o'clock earlier that night, Ethan would have ended up more heartbroken than he already was by thinking it was an actual new message and opening it up to read it. He knew better than to think that now, and assumed this text to be the one that he didn't open when he'd met Danny at the door. He was scared to open it, for some irrational fear of it being a written form of their impromptu break-up, but did so anyways to scan over its contents:

_**"Are you going to open the door and let me in**_

_**or just leave me out in the dark all night lol"**_

It was the text Ethan had asked Danny to send when he arrived. It made the tears flowing from his eyes increase in their intensity, and the sobs that followed weren't screaming for Danny to come back. He kept remembering the first time his heart had been broken like it was today and the only person he could cling to to make the pain dissipate was his twin brother. Ethan shut his eyes as tightly as he could manage, trying to shut out the demons of his past with thoughts of his brother being next to him to console his cries. When he realized it wasn't going to work, that everything was coming back full-swing and was coupling with the thought of losing Danny for no good reason, he began crying out in pained howls.

After a good while of this, Ethan sat up over the edge of his bed. He felt cold, looked pale, was badly shivering and was one hundred percent positive his face was turning green. He hated this feeling and didn't know how to stop it. It scared him, mostly because he never thought he'd have to feel it again.

_Not tonight_... he thought. _Everything was supposed to be so perfect tonight... I don't want to feel like this anymore, Aiden..._

As loudly as he could, for as long as he could manage, Ethan called out for his brother. His lycan howls vibrated against the shattered walls of the room causing more rubble to fall around him and pelt at him as it did. He wanted Aiden to return from where ever the hell he was and come back to help him keep his sanity. He didn't care how childish he looked- how helpless he felt -he was just going to scream, shout and howl for as long as it would take until Aiden came home.

And until he did, Ethan was going to howl... _and I'll bring the whole damn house down with me if he doesn't..._


End file.
